Mobilesparks- The turning point (Spark) in my life

Wednesday September 16, 2015 , 4 min Read

YourStory MobileSparks is the reason why my confidence got a boost from 20 to 90 per cent in the previous month. Yes, this event changed my life.

I travelled to Bengaluru on August 5, and on reaching the great city of startups I fell sick immediately. The worst part was I had to pitch to around 150 people the next day, for qualifying to be a MobileSparks startup.

On August 6, I was called by the YS team for briefing about the event. A thought that continuously popped in my head was: “Man, you should give up. You are sick.” But you know, you should ignore that Betal (of Vikram and Betal) in your head most times when you have to take a crucial decision in your life.

But, things changed. The warm welcome extended by the YS team, the support they provided, and the energy they exuded made me feel like I was at home and part of their family. And that just made my sickness vanish. The guys then got me some medicines and although low on energy, I was well the next day.

So what did I do to get energetic again? Well, I tried to reach the event as early as possible but failed. I left at eight a.m. and it took me a good three hours to reach Whitefield from BTM.

LESSON LEARNT: Never underestimate Bengaluru traffic.

I reached the place at 11.30, grabbed my passes, and rushed to the theatre to attend the talks. Then there was Maximus. Well my pre-existing notion that most startup events have boring hosts changed: Maximus was not only a great host, but he was also the best host I have ever seen.

The speakers were all inspirational. One of the best talks was by Girish Mathroobutam (CEO, Freshdesk) about assembling a rockstar team. It made me realise that a team is not just a pool of talent at a company, but rather a pool of visionaries who share the same vision.

FUN FACT: I don’t like writing down things with a copy and pen, but I did all that at MobileSparks. I was unable to resist the inspiration to write down stuff.

The best part was having various kinds of games all around. They had everything right from foosball table to Xbox. And I spent a lot of time playing them.

At the end of the day, there was a gathering on counter-culture where I needed to pitch in front of 150 people and five judges to qualify for the next day. Assuming it will be like most events, I prepared for a five-minute pitch. Instead, we just got 180 seconds. How could I condense a powerpoint presentation of five minutes into 180 seconds? At that point, I went to Abhash Kumar (YourStory) and asked him what to do. He said, “If you know what you are talking about, you don’t need a PPT."

Guess what? We got selected that night.

The next day, I was not ready to pitch. I was quite tensed. Again, team YS was very motivating. I also got to meet great people like Practo’s Shashank ND on that day. He has always been a great inspiration to me. I met YourStory’s Shradha Sharma too. She was very welcoming and supporting.

I was quite apprehensive trying to figure out the best way to use my 180 seconds to impress 2,000 people. The final moments came and I got on stage. I gave a three-minute pitch and the next thing I remember I was getting a standing ovation. After the event, the first person who greeted me was Shradha, who congratulated me on my performance.

When someone shows you that gesture when you are away from your home, it feels really good. At the end of Day 2, we won MobileSparks and got mentors like Ravi Gururaj onboard.

Being at MobileSparks was the greatest thing not only for me but for My Child App, and that has really changed my life. I didn’t just get to network but I also got some lifelong learnings and made great friends. If you are a startup guy, I would suggest you attend events organised YourStory.

Oh by the way, the chai at the event was fantastic too!

Capillary Technologies, Idea Device and Dexetra attracted Sequoia investment. Little Eye Labs was Facebook’s first Indian acquisition. Forus Health, Heckyl Technologies and FreshDesk also attracted VC investment. All of them have one thing in common – they are all part of India’s TECH30.

Each year, YourStory showcases 30 early-stage technology ventures that the eco-system must watch out for – the TECH30 companies. Cutting edge and with tremendous potential to be global successes that India can be proud of. Come be a part of the next TECH30.